


Philia

by scarrletmoon



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Friendship/Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarrletmoon/pseuds/scarrletmoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Philia (/ˈfɪljə/ or /ˈfɪliə/; Ancient Greek: φιλία), often translated "brotherly love", is one of the four ancient Greek words for love: philia, storge, agape and eros. In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, philia is usually translated as "friendship" or affection.</i>
</p>
<p>In which Killua begins to discover the complicated nature of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Philia

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little piece I like to call "I started this like, 2 years ago, completely forgot about it and then realised it only needed 2 more sentences this whole time".

“Do you love him?”

The first time he is asked the question, he has no idea how to answer. It’s such a simple, innocent question that he’s frustrated when the words refuse to come out of his dumb, open mouth. It’s not the first time he’s had a conversation with Melody, but he knows immediately that he’ll remember this one; he will always remember the cold rain, the windless night and new moon; he will remember his heart stuttering in his chest and his hands clenching into fists. He will remember thinking of Gon and trying to piece together his idea of  _ love _ with what he feels for that person. 

“He’s my friend,” Killua answers; because  _ love _ is his unstable mother, the danger the surrounds Illumi, the money that buys Milluki. And none of those are Gon. 

Melody smiles. “Yes, he is.” It’s not until Killua gets to bed later that night that he realises neither of them ever mentioned a name:  and yet.

Later, much later, they’re by the coast at Whale Island, visiting again.  It’s getting late, so the small bay is deserted. It’s just him and Gon for a while, watching the sun set over the calm water. They come here so often now that even when they’re miles away in a city somewhere, Killua can still recall the smell the cool ocean air if he concentrates hard enough. It’s become home, he realises, far more than Kukuroo Mountain ever was. 

He watches Gon, already ahead of him and pulling off his boots. He’s gotten taller again, Killua notices, broader and stronger. And yet his eyes are still as open and bright as the first day Killua met him, still stupidly innocent and still beautiful. They’re both sixteen now and many things have changed. But that love…

Is that what this is, he wonders as he watches Gon run straight into the waves with his clothes still on. Is that what makes him want to protect Gon with his life, to stay by his side for as long as he can, that makes him look at Gon and think he’s the most beautiful person in the world? It feels too powerful, too dangerous to be real, but he knows that shying away from it won’t change a thing. It’s too late now.

“Killua!”

Gon is waving at him from far closer than Killua expected. His hair is in his eyes and his clothes are heavy with water. His smile is so big it threatens to take over his entire face. And it’s then that Killua realises something, as Gon holds out his hand.

“I love you,” he says unthinkingly, the words tumbling past his lips before he can stop them, falling out into the air where he can’t take them back.

Gon beams, and Killua can almost see his heart glowing in his chest. “I love you, too, Killua.”

Killua wonders, as Gon tugs at his arm and forces him to his feet, as Gon pulls him to the water’s edge; he wonders if Gon understands exactly  _ how  _ Killua loves him. 

  
As he watches his friend, standing in the water, sparkling in the fading sunlight, Killua knows that right now, it doesn’t really matter. 


End file.
